Quicken

LEAVE IT to the market economy to make real what theoreticians proposed several decades ago: a unified Baltimore-Washington region. The two areas, with vastly different economies and personalities, are drawing closer and closer. Business imperatives are accelerating the pace.In a few years, the region will have a single, consolidated electric utility serving the needs of folks in Washington, D.C., and Gaithersburg as well as Baltimore and White Marsh. The two areas also soon will have a unified health-care alliance, combining the Washington-area Medlantic Healthcare Group and the larger Helix Health network of hospitals (Church Home, Franklin Square, Good Samaritan, Union Memorial)

Distant battles had changed the face of Baltimore, but not yet transformed the minds of Marylanders. We were on a war footing, but not at war. We had sent our sons to the draft, but not into combat. We were in "the emergency," but it was someone else's emergency.More than at any time since, Baltimore was Maryland. Its port, railroads and factories were the throbbing heart of the state's economy. It was a compact city of row-house dwellers who traveled by streetcar, bought groceries at neighborhood markets, did Christmas shopping on Howard Street and lived in rigid racial segregation.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - There was plenty of time to greet the guests who came in the morning. "You want to take a seat and see what's going on?" Palm Beach County Judge Charles Burton asked Christine Todd Whitman, the Republican governor of New Jersey. "We'll kick her out soon," he jokingly assured his colleagues on the county's canvassing board, which is under a tight deadline to finish a hand recount of 466,000 ballots cast nearly three weeks ago. But before nightfall yesterday, with Secretary of State Katherine Harris less than 24 hours from certifying the winner of the presidential contest in Florida, it was clearly crunch time.

If you just bought a $1,000 digital camera that takes 3.3 megapixel pictures, you might have thought you had everything you needed to get started with your new hobby. But it doesn't take long to discover that it's too easy to run out of digital "film," and that getting those huge photos from your camera to your computer can be a real headache. Luckily, a trip back to the computer or photo store will turn up some accessories that make life easier - higher-capacity digital film cards for storing your pictures and dedicated digital film readers that plug into your PC and help transfer photographs to your computer.

Good "address hygiene" will keep those letters humming smoothly through the county's new postal center, the manager told Severna Park residents this week.In the world of mechanized mail where bar code sorters rule the routes, having clean hands and a pure heart is not enough. A white envelope and a typed address with every letter a capital is necessary, too.And one more thing. No punctuation. Not even the period after MD.Bert Olsen, manager of the Magothy Bridge Delivery Distribution Center, explained to the Greater Severna Park Council Tuesday that the new machines can read a hygienic letter more easily, thus speeding the process.

Caveat emptor is Latin for "buyer beware," as the Plain Language Law Dictionary that comes with Quicken Family Lawyer will tell you. And as long as you beware of the warnings the program gives you, Family Lawyer is well worth the few dollars you'll spend on it.But first, beware of this review, because I make my living dispensing legal advice, not through a computer, but the traditional way--across a mahogany desk. For that reason, I was prepared to dislike a $20 item which at first glance promised to replace much of what I do."

Senior slotback Pat McGrew is majoring in economics, but he sounds more like an architect in describing how the Navy football team has developed under head coach Charlie Weatherbie, and the team's high expectations for this season, starting today against San Diego State."

Airfares are on the rise as airlines keep a tighter rein on flights and seats - and that rise could accelerate if industry merger efforts bear fruit. The average cost of airline tickets in the United States was up 10.2 percent last month compared with a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as airlines struggle with surging fuel prices and a softening U.S. economy. Over the same period, overall inflation rose 4 percent. Already this year, most of the more than a dozen price-increase attempts have been matched by rivals.

Negotiations between the Orioles and representatives of third baseman Cal Ripken have intensified in an effort to prevent the 40-year-old organizational icon from filing for free agency for the first time in his Hall of Fame career. With a 15-day free-agent filing period beginning immediately after the World Series, Ripken is apparently seeking a de facto rollover of the contract that paid him a $6.3 million base salary last season. While the club has considered offering the perennial All-Star a lower base salary combined with appearance incentives, majority owner Peter Angelos and vice president of baseball operations Syd Thrift have expressed confidence in a tidy resolution.

DEFIANCE, Ohio - Spurred by the latest statistics that confirm the rocky state of the economy, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain exhorted their supporters yesterday to intensify their efforts as the marathon presidential race turns into a sprint to the finish line. With five days before Election Day, the candidates stepped up their schedules, adding stops and rallies as they traveled to more battleground states. Throughout, the focus was on the economy, the issue that has dominated the last weeks of the campaign, and on the importance of voting.